Abstract

Conservation translocations have become a mainstream tool for species recovery but their capacity for delivering enhanced ecological function has been broadly overlooked despite the potential for increasing functional diversity and consequent ecosystem resilience. I argue that concepts such as functional rarity and functional distinctiveness are valuable for prioritizing species for conservation translocation and present a case study that demonstrates the ecological value of two species of annual hemiparasite from the genus Melampyrum. The data consist of species presence across 17 sites combined with trait data for each of the 82 species identified. I apply various methods to calculate functional distinctiveness and identify which traits deliver significant ecological benefit to the surrounding communities. In doing so, I aim to show that obscure and overlooked species might be more substantive in their functional role than their biomass and appearance might otherwise imply. Finally, I acknowledge caveats in this approach and suggest a way forward that navigates any limitations to effectively use ecological role and functional distinctiveness to prioritize species for conservation translocation and incur benefits to species and ecosystems in need of restoration and rehabilitation.

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